It’s about that time

It is student council election time. C has been completely fixated on student council since last year. The elders of their school, the second graders are the ultimate in coolness. The last day of first grade, he went in search of the second grade teacher who runs the student council to ask her about it. He fell in love on the spot, and now she is the delightful “Angel,” Mrs. B., as previously discussed (see here). Shyly, almost circling the ground with his toe as he looked at the floor, he asked her what he needed to be elected to student council. “Good character,” she replied. “You have to show your classmates that you have good character so they will vote for you.”

He mulled it over all summer, bringing it up frequently and talking about how cool it would be to get elected. The kicker, however, is that the student council members have to sometimes give up their recess for meetings. He told me this yesterday, and I waited, thinking this might be the out, the end of his desire to be his equivalent of the President of the United States at the elementary school level. “But that’s okay with me,” he said quickly. “I still want to do it.”

So tonight, he wrote a little speech to give to his class tomorrow. Like every good speech, it starts with a really powerful selling statement. “I would like to be on student council because I would be a very good student to be voted for.” It continues with statements designed to hook even the most cynical of voters with the promise of treats for everyone. “I could order smencils (scented pencils) for the whole school and many other things. And I would try to think of good ‘Spirit Friday’ events.” Then it leads into the meat of the issue, the points about his moral fiber and ability to be a good leader. “I am trustworthy, responsible, and I always turn in my library books.”

What more could any second grade class ask for than this kind of representation? It was all I could do not to make “Elect C” buttons to pass out to his class, but I thought that might be going overboard. So we’ll play it low key, wait and see what happens, and anxiously await the results. I’m pretty sure if he’s elected he’ll try to play it cool but won’t be able to contain his excitement. If he’s not, the sky will likely fall down. Keep your fingers crossed.